


A straunge, and terrible Wunder

by VeriLee



Series: Reylo Monster Week [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Also a blood drinker because why not, Blood Drinking, But not a dog dog, Dog Kylo Ren, Eventual Smut, F/M, Human Rey (Star Wars), Human/Monster Romance, Monster Kylo Ren, More human rey and hellhound ben sexual tension than I thought, Reylo Monster Week, Weirdly erotic hand licking, cutting for the sake of blood feeding, hades and persephone nods, like a grim black shuck omen of death creature, though he takes his human form by then
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-28
Updated: 2019-10-28
Packaged: 2021-01-05 21:36:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21215444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VeriLee/pseuds/VeriLee
Summary: Rey saw the black dog at dusk, stalking the alleyways and keeping to the shadows. She knew the tales, as everyone did.The creature of many names that came to collect souls and drag them to the underworld. To meet his eyes was to be fated to a soon and sudden death.Rey was too weary to be afraid. And so she met the hellhound's gaze head-on, hazel eyes challenging amber.But what if Death came, not to consume her, but to court her?---A Reylo Monster Week Fic





	A straunge, and terrible Wunder

**Author's Note:**

> For day one of Reylo Monster Week: Myths and Lore.
> 
> A little bit black dog/omen of death, a little bit Rose Red and the cursed bear, and little nod to Hades and Persephone - something for everyone!
> 
> (And yes, the spelling of the title is intentional, from an old description of the Black Dog)
> 
> Unbetad because I'm already a day late and I want to yeet this into the world!

Rey saw the black dog at dusk, stalking the alleyways and keeping to the shadows. She knew the tales, as everyone did. The creature had many names: the Black Dog, Shuck, the Hound of Ren, or sometimes just Ren, Grim. The stories said that the dog was harbinger of death, coming to collect souls and drag them to the underworld for his master. To meet his eyes was to be fated to a soon and sudden death. 

But Rey was too weary to be afraid. Her stomach ached with hunger, and her soul was filled with dread at the prospect of returning to the tiny cabin called home, to her angry and drunken guardian, Unkar Plutt.

And so she met the hellhound's gaze head-on, hazel eyes challenging amber, as if to say, 'do your worst.' After a moment, the dog growled and moved on, disappearing around a corner and into the fading evening light. 

Rey didn't give the dog another thought until she returned home an hour later, her meager basket of the days scavenging and trading goods on one arm, to find Plutt sprawled on the hearth. Blood was pooled under a gruesome looking cut, seeping from the stone to the wood and a mug lay only inches from his hand, the ale spilled out across the floor.

When Rey went to fetch the town's healer, he as well as the governor, agreed that Plutt must have fallen after drinking himself into a stupor and that no foul play had occurred. 

But Rey had seen the tufts of black fur matted to the floor in Unkar's blood. She knew better. 

* * *

She was scrubbing the wood the next day when the dog returned. The stain would never be completely gone, but it was a small price to pay. Rey was free. 

She heard him first, pacing outside her door - the small shack was hers alone now - heavy paws crunching on the fallen leaves. 

Rey rose from where she worked and opened the door, wiping a hand across her brow. Perhaps she should be wary now; she had escaped the curse of death, did not know if she would be so lucky again. 

But as she met those brown eyes once more, those eyes that seemed too sad and too human to belong to such a beast, once again, she felt no fear. 

The late autumn wind howled, and as she gazed on the creature, she could see that under the shaggy, black fur his frame was far too lean for his size.

"Come in, then," she said. "I don't have anyone rationing my food anymore, and I know I have you to thank, so you might as well share some of the spoils."

The dog quirked its ears in surprise before he scuttled across the threshold and sat tentatively, patiently, by the fire.

Rey went to the cupboard that Plutt had kept locked. There was far from an abundance of food, for he spent far too much on drink, but it was more than Rey ever had access to before. She pulled out some dried meat and bread, before fetching a bit of cheese from the chilled box on the ground and divided it up between the two of them. 

Rey didn't say anymore until they finished eating, and she began to clean up and prepare for bed. She hesitated on the ladder as she started to climb up into the loft where her mattress still lay. 

"You can stay," she told the hound, nodding toward the hearth and he curled up in front of the fire as she vanished into her old, attic room. 

* * *

The creature was gone the next morning when Rey awoke and climbed down the ladder. She felt a confusing pang of sadness, even rejection, at his absence. 

But she took a deep breath and set out to do her morning chores. Her jail keeper may be dead but chickens still needed tending and cows milked if she was going to have anything to eat or trade. Difference was, she would get to keep the fruits of labor now. 

She watched the cows - now _ her _cows, she supposed - and looked closely at the chickens as she plucked their eggs from the nests. Their eyes were dark, and while not empty, they were not the same as the dog's. He was no mere animal, she knew. The memory of his haunting eyes followed her all day.

After she arrived home, having traded a basket of eggs for a bit of fresh meat, Rey set to work dragging Plutt's mattress out of the little house and burning it and his clothes in a cleared patch of earth. Her own bed - supplemented with a lot more straw than feathers - may not be as fine, but she would drag it down to make the one room cabin her own before she used something that belonged to the foul man that once called himself her guardian.

Fear turned to joy, though she'd be hard pressed to admit it, when she heard nails scratching at her door at dusk and peaked out to see the black ren waiting, clutching a bunch of flowers in his mouth. 

Rey tempered her wide grin into a only small smile as she opened the door. "You aren't a normal dog, are you?" She asked, taking the flowers from his mouth as he entered, though she already knew the answer. 

Rey held the flowers close to her nose and inhaled deeply. The roses were soft, fat and full, and the daisies tickled her nose with their petals. It was far too late in the season for such blooms and she wondered where the dog had travelled to find such a gift. 

"I am glad you returned," Rey told the creature, honestly, as she placed the bouquet in a jar. "I was disappointed to find you gone."

The dog whimpered at that and nudged her leg with his head, as if apologizing. He watched Rey intently as she cooked and then laid a plate with a rare steak on the ground in front of him. 

"I don't know exactly what you are, but I thought you might like this better than dried meat," she explained, feeling a flush cross her cheeks as she admitted the purchase was intended for him. 

She talked to him as they ate dinner today, and though he could not speak, his gaze told her he was listening.

"When first I saw you, I was too weary, too apathetic to fear that you were an omen, that you were sent to take my life," she said thoughtfully. "Now I suppose I ought to fear that I'm next, after Plutt. But I just don't believe you want to hurt me."

And Rey would swear that the way the beast turned its head, it was shaking it, in order to say, _ 'No, I won't.'_

After supper, Rey again invited the dog to stay. She no longer had to climb up into the cramped attic to sleep, but she tucked herself behind the ladder and hurriedly changed for bed, casting quick glances over her shoulder at the creature all the while. 

* * *

In the morning, the hound was gone again but Rey did not find herself as mournful of his absence, for she believed he would return. Again, she tended to the animals in the barn, and she gathered vegetables from the small garden to store for winter. The wind was changing, and she could feel that the snow would come early this year. 

Her trip to town to trade was more eventual than the previous day's, when Teedo, a sometimes associate of Plutt, cornered her and insisted that Unkar had died while in his debt. 

"You inherited his property, you inherit his obligations, girl," the short, stocky man said with a hiss. 

"Show me the deed or contract, and I'll pay you." Rey spoke plainly but her stomach sank; she was not surprised to learn that Plutt owed people money and only hoped it wouldn't be enough to break her, to lose her newfound freedom. 

"It's far too great a sum for what he left you, certainly. But I'm sure we can arrange something," Teedo said with a lascivious grin, reaching for her wrist and running a thumb over her pulse. 

Rey shuddered and yanked her arm from his grasp. "I will pay what is owed, nothing more."

"We'll see about that."

But though he watched her with a predatory glare, Teedo did not follow Rey as she rushed away. Her heartbeat wildly as she headed for home; she was sure she had not heard the last of him. 

Rey did not try to hide her excitement over the hound's arrival that night. She leaned down to hug his massive neck, thankful and relieved to no longer be alone in the house. 

* * *

It was with sadness that Rey discovered the flowers the black dog had brought her were already dead and dried when she awoke, though he'd only brought them two evenings prior. She wondered if she had not kept the jar filled with enough water, or if the flowers were a mystical gift, and doomed to die quickly.

They still smelled quite fragrant, however, and so Rey cut a small slit in her mattress and added the dried petals to the straw and feather filling, then stitched it up again. She smiled as she envisioned falling asleep whilst smelling that potpourri.

Rey didn't want to venture to town that day, didn't want to run into Teedo again, and so the task was a welcome way to pass some time. She boiled eggs for supper, feeling bad that she would not have fresh meat for her companion, but she would trade again soon. 

She received a visitor well before his twilight arrival; a young woman from the village, named Rose, came knocking at her door after midday with stunning news. 

"There is not a single soul in the town that mourns him," Rose said, shaking her head as she sipped at the tea that Rey had offered her. "Though everyone is unsettled, as you can imagine."

The body of Teedo Mopar had been found in his blacksmith shop, but the grisly nature of his death had upset the townsfolk more than the loss. His neck was apparently ripped open and gnawed on, as if by a wild animal. 

"A bear, or something," Rose repeated. "It was gruesome, they say. I worry about you here, away from town, all by yourself."

"I'll be fine," Rey assured her friend. She knew she would be protected, even if she could not tell Rose about the creature. "And I'll be inside before dark," she added before Rose could say anymore. 

All afternoon, however, the news of the attack rested heavy in Rey's mind. _ His neck torn open, as if by a bear...or perhaps, a dog?_

At dusk, the hound returned, and Rey let him in. He dropped a gift at her feet again, a headscarf of white lace, the kind of frivolous luxury she could never afford herself. Her voice was soft, and on the verge of happy tears as she whispered, "Thank you."

Rey waited until she dished them both up to speak again. 

"I did not go into town today," she explained, "so I'm sorry there is no fresh meat."

The ren dipped his head slightly, as if to dispel the need for apology. 

"I was avoiding the man I told you about yesterday. But then, you knew that didn't you?" Rey fixed her gaze intently on the hound. 

He didn't hesitate before bobbing his up and down, in an approximation of a nod. 

"And you are the reason I no longer need to fear him."

It wasn't a question but the hellhound nodded again anyway. 

"I should be horrified, but I'm not," Rey admitted, with a somber smile. "Thank you."

That night, she didn't bother to hide behind the ladder. She kept her eyes fixed intently on the hound's as she slowly disrobed and then pulled her nightgown over her head. And she didn't miss the all too human hunger in his eyes, flickering in the firelight.

* * *

Two days later, the first snow arrived, heavy but still wet and Rey went to town one last time, to stock up. She found a hidden store of Plutt's liquor, which fetched some decent supplies. She wore the lace scarf her companion gave her, although hidden under her woolen one, to avoid drawing attention or provoking suspicion over the fine accessory. It could buy her a month's worth of food, but she would never part with it. 

When she arrived home, the dog was already waiting for her, huddled under an eave to stay out of the snow. 

"You must know something bad is on the way," she said to him, as she let them both in, "to come back before dark."

He held another gift in his mouth, which he dropped at the foot of her bed, but Rey hurried to build up the fire before examining the present. 

"I know you can work the door, since you leave by yourself in the mornings," Rey said as she stoked the flames. "If you arrive before me again, you may enter rather than wait."

The hound looked surprised, and then padded closer to nuzzle her shoulder affectionately. 

"I wouldn't have this home if it weren't for you, so it only seems fair," Rey explained. "It belongs to both of us, in a way."

She stood up and went to see what gift her companion brought that afternoon, gasping when she got a closer look. He must have carried the fruit so very carefully, for the skin was not pierced or bruised at all.

"Pomegranate," she whispered in awe. "But wherever did you find such a treat?" The trees did not fare well in the harsh Jakku climate; it could only have come from long distance traders.

Rey split the fruit eagerly, picking out the berries with frantic fingers, devouring them. She had a fleeting thought that it might have been wise to save them, make them last and prolong her pleasure, but they were too delightful and she was too greedy. 

"Do you want some?" Rey held a few out to the hellhound in her palm. She shivered when he dipped his head to eat the arils. He didn't slobber or lap at her hand as a true dog might have, but carefully nipped at the berries. The gentle flick of his tongue and minute graze of his teeth felt like tiny kisses peppered on her skin. 

The creature kept his eyes on her, fixed and intent as he licked every drop of juice from her berry-stained fingers. His attentions were slow and thorough, as though he were more intent on tasting her skin than the fruit and for reasons Rey couldn't quite discern, she found herself struggling to breathe evenly, her skin flushed and heated despite the cool winter air. With her free hand, Rey ran her fingers through the soft, shaggy fur on the hound's head, dragging her fingernails along his scalp and for a brief moment he closed his eyes. 

All too soon, the pomegranate was gone, leaving nothing left but a spent and ravaged hull, but when Rey climbed into bed that night, her heart was still beating wildly. 

* * *

Rey was pleased when she awoke to find that the black dog had not ventured out, the cold air and swirling snow keeping him inside. She herself made only the short journey to the barn to tend to the animals before hurrying back inside to warm herself by the fire. 

She spent the day sitting with the hound by the fireside, telling him fairy stories and playing with his fur, weaving tiny, stubby little braids into his shaggy coat. She was pleased to feel his muscle and bulk under the dark hair; he was not as lean and underfed as when she had first met him. 

"Then there is the tale of the Grim, the Black Shuck that leads humans to their death," Rey said, reclining against the dog's warm side. She looked up, curious to see the expression in her companion's eyes. "A reverend claimed he saw one haunting our churchyard. Everyone is told to fear the sight of the black dog, because to see it means that death is near. I don't think the story is completely false, but there is more to it, isn't there?"

The hound only stared down, as if trying to tell her something with his eyes and Rey sighed, wished, not for the first time, that her companion could speak to her.

That night, when Rey changed for bed, she dragged her mattress nearer to the hearth, anticipating another cold night as the wind swirled and howled outside. 

"You can lay with me," she told the hellhound, patting the mattress beside her. "We'll stay warmer this way." 

And she slept more soundly that night than she had in years, curled up against the side of her Ren. 

* * *

The next couple of days passed much in the same way as the storm raged on. But by the fourth day that they were cooped up, the hound began to grow restless, pacing the floor. He ate and ate but didn't seem full, his hunger far from satiated. By evening, he was almost frantic. 

Rey thought to his preference for rare or even raw meat; they'd only had dried for days.

_ Perhaps it was more than a desire. Perhaps it was a need._

In her mind, Rey imagined Teedo's bitten and battered body; how she knew without a doubt it was the work of her companion. Had he consumed his flesh for nourishment as well as vengeance on Rey's behalf?

But Plutt hadn't been bitten at all.

_ But his blood had been spilled._

"Do you require blood?" Rey asked in a low and even tone. 

The hound ceased his pacing and stared at her, before nodding, shame heavy in his eyes.

But Rey did not blame nor judge him. It was simply a biological need, albeit one different from her own. She thought about her animals in the barn, that he could have devoured but hadn't.

Out of respect for her? Or out of preference for human blood? She could slaughter a chicken and was sure he would appreciate it, but the winter was long and had only just begun. 

_ Perhaps there was something else she could offer._

"But you don't need to kill, do you?" Again Rey thought of his victims. Of how much blood of Plutt's had soaked into the hearth beneath them. The dog had only taken a little for himself. 

The creature shook his head and Rey took a deep breath to steady herself. 

"Can you drink from me, then? Without killing me?" 

The hound froze, watching Rey, unsure of how to react. 

"I'm offering freely. Can you?" Rey implored again, leaning forward, and finally, slowly, the hound nodded. 

Resolute and determined, Rey fetched her sharpest blade and came to kneel in front of the Ren. He had calmed his pacing and was watching her cautiously. 

She saw his eyes darken as she bit her lip and brought the blade to her forearm, slicing a small line into her own flesh. 

Before she could cry out in pain, his tongue dragged across the wound, hungrily lapping at her blood. The sensation was strangely soothing, chasing away the pain with the tender touch. The cut wasn't deep but the blood continued to slowly seep out, followed swiftly by the sweep of the creature's tongue.

Unbidden, the thought came to Rey's mind that she would let him do this again, _ gladly, _and with a small twinge of embarrassment, she pressed her legs together, shocked by the sensation she felt building between them.

By the time the hellhound had his fill, the shallow wound had already begun to close. Rey wondered idly if it really was such a minor cut at all, or if it was some magic, inherent in her monster's tongue or saliva. 

They curled up for bed that night, her companion once again calm and satiated. And Rey stroked his fur until they both fell asleep, whispering, "You take care of me, and I'll take care of you."

* * *

Rey woke to an altogether different heat the next morning, though it took a moment for her sleepy mind to process. 

The fire had burned low, but not out, and heat still emanated from the fireplace. She was still surrounded by weight and warmth, though the soft and heavy fur was missing, and when Rey stretched and shifted in the bed, she was met by something poking against her backside.

Curiously, she wriggled against it and her eyes finally flew open when the form behind her let out a choked, but very human, groan. 

She rolled over and sat up, staring down at her bed which had last night been occupied by the large Grim that had become her constant companion. 

In his place lay a man, no less massive but decidedly more human. If his wide and blinking eyes were anything to go by, he was just as surprised as she. Shamelessly Rey trailed her eyes across his body, the wide expanse of his chest, the hard planes of his stomach...the firm length of his manhood, jutting up proudly from between his thighs. 

Rey licked her lips before lifting her gaze to meet his again. Those soulful amber eyes - those were still the same. 

"It's you," she breathed in a whisper. "But how?"

The creature - the man - traced the fine line of Rey's scar, still fresh and tender. "I think it was this. Your sacrifice for me." He looked up at her in awe. "No one has done something like that for me before."

Overwhelmed by the weight of emotion in his eyes, Rey suddenly leaned down to press a kiss, hungry and clumsy to his lips, so soft and plush. 

"Rey," he breathed out, something between a sigh and a moan, when she pulled away again. "How long I have ached to speak your name."

Rey blushed. "And yet I still don't know yours. Tell me, so that I may do the same."

"Ben was my given name, before I was cursed, though I've been given many titles over the years," he explained. 

She would ask more about the curse later, learn of his duty in leading the dead to the afterlife, discover that even now, after Rey's sacrifice, he would only take his human form by day, and become a hound again as darkness fell. But all that would be unraveled later. 

For now, Rey didn't ask any questions but merely tried out the sound of his name on her tongue. 

"Ben," she whispered as she laid down beside him and kissed his mouth again. "Ben," as she trailed her lips across his ears and neck. "Ben," as her eager, if unpracticed hands curiously stroked and caressed his shaft, causing him to groan and thrust against into her grasp. 

"Rey," he moaned again, chanting his own litany in harmony as he explored her in turn. His hands were just as eager, just as clumsy though whether because he was as inexperienced as her, or because his own body was just so new and foreign to him, Rey did not know. 

He reached under nightshift, pulling and tugging to rid her of it, she was just as bare as he. His lips found the puckered peaks of her nipples and suckled and nibbled until she cried out, and his hands teased at the soft folds between her legs, her throbbing and swollen nub, until she was wet and shaking mess. 

He rolled Rey onto her back, settled himself between her legs and fixed her eyes with a heavy and fiery gaze. 

"I'll make you mine, Rey," he promised, _ warned _. He rocked against her, dragging his length against her folds, teasing her entrance. "To walk with me forever. We'll never part."

"Yes," Rey moaned shifting against him, begging him to continue with her body, "Yours. Forever."

"Forever, Rey," he repeated as finally, _ finally, _he sheathed himself inside her drawing a cry from her lips. He paused for only a moment before he pulled back again and began to thrust into her, over and over, with reckless abandon. 

Rey's hands scrabbled at his back, his hair, his neck, seeking purchase as she gave herself over. 

"I want you to taste me, Rey," he grit out between grunts and moans. "Like I tasted you. Feed on me." 

Dizzy with pleasure, the meaning of his words took a moment to filter through Rey's lust addled mind, but she suddenly realized what he meant. 

Desperately, she began to mouth at his neck, though her bite was too weak to break the skin, and Ben reached up to drag an inhumanly sharp fingernail across the hollow just above his collar bone, drawing forth fresh blood. Without hesitation, Rey began to suck at the fresh new wound and Ben's thrusts became increasingly more frantic.

And when he called out her name, on a groan so deep and guttural, it seemed to rise up from the earth around them, the sensation of him, above and inside her, the blood on her tongue overwhelmed her, pushing her over the edge as waves of pleasure washed over Rey. She shuddered as Ben chased after, his movement stuttering as he spilled within her before collapsing on top of her, his weight warm and welcome. 

"All those legends and tales," Rey said after a handful of moments, when her breathing returned to normal. "They're so lacking. They think they know what you are, _ who _you are, but no one does."

"But you do." Ben brushed a lock of hair from Rey's sweaty face. "And I know you."

* * *

_ A new legend arises in the land of Jakku, though years pass by and it isn't long before it becomes woven into tales much older. It is, afterall, a new version of an old story. _

_ Every mother tells their children, every teacher warns their students, children whisper among themselves while they work and play:_

_ Hurry home before dark, and don't be caught alone. For the Hound of Ren and his mistress, the bride with tattered lace veil and a bouquet of dead flowers walk the dusky hours between day and night, on the border between the living world and the dead, ready to take their victims into the next world. _

_ It is not long before the lore forgets that the harbinger of death ever walked alone. _


End file.
